


Seeing Red

by Melkatsudon



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Fever Dreams, Gen, Gender-Neutral Apprentice (The Arcana), Nonbinary Character, Other, Red Plague (The Arcana), Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-04-02
Packaged: 2020-01-01 04:25:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18328574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melkatsudon/pseuds/Melkatsudon
Summary: Mael Cross goes through their last days during the plague, trying to discern their own thoughts through sickness, and small creepings of thoughts and memories they wished to forget. Trying to push away ghosts of multiple types.





	Seeing Red

_ “Mael stop being so stubborn! We have to leave!” Asra was shouting, be it out of frustration or concern - possibly a combination of the two. But the apprentice wouldn’t budge. _

_ “I can’t! I-I can’t just run from this Asra, they need help!” The witch shouted, straightening their back up as they stomped on the ground, “They’ll all die if we don’t help!” _

_ “But what if YOU die?! What then?!” _

_ They didn’t say anything after that, they just stood there. Cheeks stained from the tears that had fallen and merely shook their head while mouthing ‘I can’t’. _

_ That was their final decision. _

_ And then he was gone. _

~~~

Why were they remembering this? And why was it so hot? Their hand was trembling as they held a quill, trying to take notes of patients. Trying to focus on the paper in front of them. It was hard to breathe with this mask on.

_ I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe. I can’t... _

The voice in their head wasn’t their own. No. Because it suddenly stopped. Dark eyes glanced up to look at their patient laying on a flimsy sheet and support. You could hardly call it a bed... Not that it mattered. Mael cursed under their breath, breathing heavily into their mask as they struggled to stand on their feet.

_ Shaking, shaking, shaking. The world is shaking. It’s shaking. _

They held their head, trying to get some bearing on themselves as they heard whispers all around them. But these whispers weren’t coming from the constant coughs and groans of the sick. No, these were all from people who had already past.

_ Mael. Help us. Mael. Mael.  _

_ Where’d you go? _

_ Please help us. Help. Hel-- _

“Stop it!” They shouted to no one and everyone around them. Not that anyone could really pay any notice. Alive or dead. Death truly gave them company, but not a type they really wanted.

Dropping their clipboard, ink, and parchment they stumbled away from this area. Now their head was pounding and their vision seemed bloodshot all around the edges. Why are they shaking so much? Why is everything burning and shaking?

Their little corner to work in had a small bucket of water that, while not totally rancid, wasn’t exactly clean either. Using their sleeve to wipe off the dingy mirror and ripped their mask off. And they just cringed at their reflection.

They had hoped the way their eyes appeared was just due to the red glass of the plague mask. But the image looking back at them proved they were wrong, without a shadow of a doubt. Bloody eyes and veins looking like they were crackling and spreading across their face. 

Clenching their teeth as they splashed the water on their face, pushing back some of their wet curls as their shaking hands picked the mask back up, but a distinct click of boots broke them away from whatever thoughts they had.

But when they looked up there was no one there. Only the stench of death and sickness surrounding them. Did they ever notice this before?

Or was it because now they knew that very stench was coming from them?

_ You should have just run like he said, _ A voice spoke in the back of their head as they tried to see past the red that was creeping in to cloud their vision.  _ Just like you did back home. You ran the moment she told you to. It got everyone. _

_ Including her. _

_ And now you’re joining her. _

_ You should have just run. Run. Run. That was all you were good at. _

These voices were just from a fever, they tried to reason with themselves, getting another hand full of water to splash on their burning neck before they forced their wobbling legs to keep them up, to walk, to find their clip board and report another body. Go off to find another one. To try to help anyone still alive.

_ You’re joining them soon. _

But not just yet... Not yet...

~~~

How many days has it been? There was no time down here, it was like everything was frozen and stagnant. Where was Julian? Where had he gone? Mael hated that they had to admit to themselves they needed the man they were apprenticed under. He was surely buried under papers, trying to get everything done. To figure out how to cure it all. They knew that.

But they needed him right now.

There was a pain settling into their bones, they couldn’t remember when they discarded their mask, sitting in their chair, in their little corner of the facility. Their typically tanned skin looked more grey, and long dark-brown curls were clinging to their skin. They were soaked from sweating, shaking, trying their best to breath in air that was far too stale and far too hot to be good for them.

And they sobbed.

“I’m sorry.” They cried, holding themselves as they stood, trying to find a path to walk on as it felt like they were between this world and the next. Were they seeing ghosts? Or merely hallucinations? Though, those could be ghosts of a different kind. “I’m sorry!” Louder this time as they stumbled about, finding a wall to support themself on. They just kept sobbing and coughing, feeling how their throat would tear, how strained it was to do  _ anything _ at all. Even breathe.

They saw their grandfather and the young twins he had adopted before disaster struck their home.

They saw the woman who they ran all the way with Vesuvia with, to inheiret the family shop. A woman whom death had already touched, and they were none the wiser until it was too late.

They saw the countless, nameless faces of the people trapped down here with them, before being taken away to Lazaret to be burned away. They even swore they could smell it, could feel the ash invading their eyes and lungs.

“I’m sorry...” Their voice was more hoarse this time, and it came out more like a croak than actual words.

They saw Asra, his face during their arguement. How he seemed to be crying, despite all his anger.  _ I’m sorry... _ Now it was their own voice that they could hear, all the other whispers around them seeing to be swimming in a sea of noise. Drowned out by the harsh sound of their pulse.  _ I am so sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. _

As they stumbled about, avoiding things both there and not. Trying not to trip over tables with discarded tools, bumping into patients both there and not.  _ I’m so, so sorry, Asra. _

_ I can’t see you again. I’m sorry. _

_ I need Julian. _ So where was he? In his office? Where was he? Where?  _ Julian? _

_ Julian, I need you. Julian? Doctor? Please. I need you. I need you. Help me. _

_ Help us. Help me. Us. Me. Us. _

_ Julian! Julian?! _

There was his office door, just barely cracked open. They could have sworn they saw him move, just the slightest shuffle. Did he hear them finally? Was he coming for them?

_ Julian? _

_ Julian?! _

_ JULIAN! _

“Julian...” The air seemed still, and the voice broke through it, a crack of his name as they reached out a clammy hand for him.

Before they could reach him, if he was even there, the world fell away beneath their feet, and a loud  _ THUD _ filled their ears as their mind fell into an empty black sea.

And they could no longer think of anything.


End file.
